"D" the Ranter is Colorado's #1 Multi-sport MLBlogger. The Rant is written from a fan's perspective and you can count on "D" to tell you exactly how it is. Tried and Tested…There's a reason the Rant kicks ass in Colorado.

January 2012

This was my first Nuggets game of the season and I couldn’t have picked a better time to see them play. The Nuggets return to Denver fresh off of a five game road trip in which they won all five. The first time in history the Nuggets have ever done that.

Plus I got to hear the Canadian National Anthem and I knew all the words.

For this game I sat behind the basket in Section 136. Not the best seats for taking pictures but the tickets were extremely cheap :)

Raptors were dragg’n ass the first quarter. You could tell they were really missing their leading scorer Andrea Bargnani.

Rudy Fernandez was the man tonight with a season high 23 points.

Danilo Gallinari had 13 points in the game.

Arron Afflalo was back after missing two games but was shutout.

Andre Miller had 13 points and 12 assists and 6 rebounds.

Timofey Mozgov.

Cory Brewer.

Not sure what’s going on here? Sorry buddy those ain’t basketballs.

Even George Karl managed to get himself a technical foul tonight.

Former Denver Nugget Linus Kleiza got into a bit of a tiff with Harrington near the end of the game. It looked like Harrington got pissed when Kleiza put his hand in his face while under the basket. Some pleasantries were exchanged, Kleiza pushed Harrington. Both dudes received technicals and both kept talking smack after they returned to their bench.

Good stuff!

Kleiza scored two points and was 1 for 7 for the night.

Toronto tried to make a fourth quarter comeback and got within 6 points but the Nuggets defense stepped up and the game ended with a final score of…

DENVER 96 the RAPTORS 81

You didn’t think you leave here with out a cheerleader pic did you?

Best shot of the game other than Andre Miller’s shot at halfcourt to beat the half-time buzzer..WOW!!

That day towards the end of January where hardcore Rockies fans get to walk around the innards of Coors Field like they bought and paid for the place. In years past tickets to this event were cherished and have been difficult to obtain. I mean seriously how often does the average Joe get the opportunity to poke his head inside the humidor or meander through the Rockies locker room and see how messy the Deuce’s locker is?

My thing is I like to covertly toss my Ranter cards into the players lockers . No players have ever contacted me from that move, but it’s fun and kind of a ritual now for me.

And I was at the first one too but WordPress lost that blog entry for me.

Anyways, the Rockies have broadened what Rockies Fest is this year. For the past three years Rockies Fest was a season ticket holder only event. This year being what the Rockies call “The Year of the Fan” the powers who be added an extra day to the event and now non-season ticket holders can enjoy the experience for only…

Here I am blessing Coors Field in 2011

Here I am Blessing Coors Field in 2010

I’ve decided not to Bless Coors Field this year.

I’m not mad or anything it’s just that it hasn’t worked. I will however be Tebowing from that exact spot. You ask why? Well I Tebowed in a bottle suit in the north end zone at Mile High Stadium and the Broncos advanced to the playoffs.

I figure it can’t hurt right?

I’m “D” The Ranter and I’d like to welcome Jamie Moyer and thank him for making a middle aged guy feel young :)

This entry took a while to create because I had too many pictures to choose from. I finally decided since I couldn’t go see the Broncos take on the Patriots in person, I’d wait until after I knew who won the game to post this entry. Sorry to tease you.

As did most Broncos fans I went through a mixed range of emotions this past week. I was extremely excited that the Broncos made the playoffs but I wasn’t sure I felt they deserved to be there. Eventually as the week wore on I became comfortable with it :)

Krista and I had originally planned to sell our tickets and watch this one from home. However Coach John Fox called for all Broncos fans to not sell their tickets to avoid a Steeler takeover of Mile High like there was in 2006. Which is why we kind of didn’t want to attend in the first place.

Coach Fox asked nice and we knew we wouldn’t miss this game.

Besides, I was lucky enough to purchase two more tickets the day they went on sale in the south stands and Mike the Rox Addict was our guest this game.

For me this football game was about sweet justice/revenge. I was at the Steelers/Broncos game in 2006 when the Steelers embarrassed the Broncos and I hate that memory.

However, when your team is in the playoffs and you didn’t expect to be there, it’s all just gravy baby.

After the Broncos loss the previous week the media let loose on Tebow. They were waiting like hungry hawks for that opportunity to slam Tebow. The sound of every Sportscaster in America chanting “I told you so” echoing across the radio and television was enough to make me want to hurl.

I wanted see Tebow to shove a big win down their tiny microphones.

Here are a few pre-game pictures.

Steelers taking the field..Boo!

The Coin Flip. Broncos win and elect to kick.

Cartman getting the crowd ready.

First kick of the game.

The ball bouncing off the uprights after Prater’s monster kick.

Double choke.

Champ Baily proving you’re never to old to fly.

The taking down of Big Ben.

This is the Tebow Touchdown series.

Yeah!

Steelers Touchdown.

Steelers Field Goal.

Eddie doing his thing series.

The Decker injury series.

Broncos Field Goal

The dude who sits beside us…The Broncnator

I’ve never seen Mile High this amped before. The 12th Man was a major factor in this game every time the Steelers touched the football.

I was in a perfect position to take a picture of the winning touchdown. Here’s Thomas running in the game winner but as you can see it’s all blurry. That’s because Bronco Nation had Mile High stadium shaking so violently that my camera couldn’t compensate.

That’s never happened before.

“In your face Pittsburg”, and the best thing was nobody believed the Broncos could do it except Bronco Nation. The same Bronco Nation that was going absolutely nuts as Thomas rapidly approached the end zone ball in hand. The wife and I were hugging and high-fiving strangers we’d never even met.

That’s a memory and feeling I’ll never forget.

My first year as a Broncos season ticket holder was incredible. So many highs and lows. My wife and I tailgated every game and cheered our hearts out no matter how the Broncos were doing. If you look closely on TV during any Broncos field goal or extra point kicked, In the first row up on the fifth level just above the handicapped row you can usually see the both of us standing up cheering. I’m usually snapping pictures.

From the demise of Kyle Orton to the Rise of Tim Tebow. This season had everything because I expected nothing.

I know Tebow needs work. The Broncos as a whole need work. I’m hoping that Coach Fox has the resources, knowledge and the testicular fortitude to make some wise choices come next season. Props to Coach Fox for his ability to think outside the box this season, I respect him for that.

It can’t be a bad thing John Elway taking the young Tebow under his wing this off-season and passing on those golden nuggets of wisdom tucked away inside his legendary head right? Only time will tell on that one.

This concludes the 2011 Denver Broncos Football Season on the Rockpile Rant and I must tell you I really, really(yes two reallys), enjoyed taking pictures of football for the first time.

What’s next you ask?…Well it’s Rockies Fest this Saturday January 21st. I know a whole bunch of Rantics are going to be there and I’m really looking forward to hang’n with everyone. I miss baseball and my friends Yo!

I’m “D” The Ranter and remember you can do what I do, but then I’ll just come back and do it better.

The Ranter family was highly anticipating this game for several reasons. Firstly this game featured the first ever match-up between Denver’s former Quarterback Kyle Orton and Denver’s new Quarterback Tim Tebow.

The Broncos were just one win away from winning the AFC West and Kyle Orton was on a mission to destroy Denver’s playoff chances, shove a win down Denver fan’s throats, and put on a solid performance as teams that could need a Quarterback next season will be watching his performance closely.

The other reason we were excited was I had recently won a contest sponsored by Bud Light. I won the chance to wear a Bud Light bottle suit and race two other bottles on the field during halftime at this particular game.

In addition Bud light and the Broncos awarded me two tickets to the game and a parking pass. We decided it would be fun to take Mylee and Hunter so they could see their dad dressed up like a beer bottle at halftime. I was stoked and very much looking forward to being able to stand on the Broncos field for the first time. More on this whole experience further into this blog entry…

Here are the kids pre-game. This was their first official Broncos tailgating experience, they’re quick learners.

The weather was decent for tailgating and we spent some time chatting with Andy from Spring training and Hunter and I tossed around the football.

Hunter managed to tell off some KC fans in his own special way.

The Mile High skydivers were in full effect. I wish I could show you all of these photos, they’re really cool.

The big flag.

The coin toss. The coin is in the air next to the cameraman’s shoulder.

A couple of shots of Tebow coming out of the Broncos tunnel.

Here are some game pictures I took in no particular order.

About halfway through the second quarter the folks who were doing the Bud Light race arrived at my seat to take me down to field level. When I arrived at the end of the tunnel field level there were six minutes left before halftime. I was allowed to watch the game from that spot until two minutes were left then it was time to get my bottle suit on. I was given the Bud Light Lime bottle (I had no choice), and about a 30 lb backpack to strap on my back to keep the bottle pumped up.

Then the other bottles and I returned back to the tunnel and waited anxiously for halftime. I’m the white and green bottle.

I had a lot of friends at this game and as competitive as I am I had to win this thing. I had spent several days pondering exactly what I’d do if I won.

In the end I decided I absolutely had to spike the ball and do a “Tebow” while in the bottle suit.

Me standing around enjoying the moment.

Here’s what the race consisted of. We were supposed to run to the 10 yard line drop and do 5 push ups. Then run through the cones and across a ladder. Next I had to catch a football and haul ass back to the start line.

Simple enough right?

Well the announcer Roach said “On you mark, get set” then he pause a few extra seconds and in that time I stepped forward then to be fair I stepped back. As I was stepping back Roach said “Go”.

I was behind from the very start.

I stopped exactly on the 10 yard line to do my push ups but the other bottles kept going.

As I started to push up I stopped to look up and see why the other bottles kept going.

Then I saw them finally drop and I knocked out my push ups.

I managed to gain some ground in the cones even though Bud Light Wheat (the orange bottle), skipped two of them.

By the time I hit the ladders I had a small lead.

Then the dude tossed me the football and I dropped it.

At that point I was like “Shit”, and I scrambled to find the football. It only took me a few seconds to find the ball but it’s not easy bending over in a bottle suit.

Once I regained possession of the ball the race was back on but I was dead last again.

I was gaining ground fast.

The fear of losing was taking over my old body and I reached deep inside for that last burst of energy.

I managed to catch Bud Light Wheat and it was a photo finish. In the end I was announced the winner(remember the Bud Light Wheat bottle skipped two cones).. :)

I was a bit winded but I scored a win for my kids and my fans.

And if you’re wondering if I pulled of my T-Bud?(Thanks Todd)…You Betcha!

This is the video Krista shot of the whole thing.

Here’s what I won. A Broncos shirt, a Broncos pin, some stickers, a Bud Light hat, a Broncos magazine, a koozie, and the last thing in the bag was an envelope. The envelope contained a piece of paper that said I could choose an Authentic jersey of my choice.

Thank you for this opportunity Bud Light. That my friends is how you start out a New Year.

Chiefs beat the Broncos in the final game of the regular season and I still have no issues with losing Kyle Orton. His performance was Ho-Hum kinda dull, just like him.

If Orton’s plan was to send Denver fans a message, he didn’t. Props to the Denver Defense for keeping us in this game.

Broncos Coach John Fox has specifically asked Denver Season Ticket holders not to sell their tickets. This is because way back in 2006 (the last time the Broncos made the playoffs), Mile High Stadium was filled with more Steelers fans than Broncos fans and it was straight up embarrassing.

I’m “D” The Ranter and I’m still on the Tebow wagon, but I feel like my ass is dragg’n. The rest of America can go ahead and tell Tebow he can’t win a Superbowl.

Not me, I’ve recently seen life from inside the bottle and I believe…”D”

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